Bolton: Obama’s Heart Is Not In Fighting ISIS; He’d Prefer To Do Nothing

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Fox News contributor John Bolton discussed Obama’s reluctance to go to war with ISIS. He told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer that the President would rather do nothing than provoke the terrorists.

“I really don’t think the president’s heart is in this. I think he believes that not doing anything would be preferable. Because as he has said repeatedly throughout his presidency, it’s the assertion of U.S. power he thinks that inspires terrorists and jihadis to take up the struggle against the United States. He says the jihadis are on the wrong side of history. He would rather leave them alone. But I think he has no choice here because of where American public opinion is.”

The White House three-phase plan will require at least three years, according to Pentagon officials.

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“It’s a strategy to do very little and to do too late. The idea that it will take three years to do this is just flatly wrong. The moment to strike ISIS is right now before they have consolidated control over territory. You know Winston Churchill once said, ‘We should have strangled bolshevism in its cradle in Russia after the Revolution.’ That’s what we should do to ISIS. We should not give it time to consolidate and mature. And when the President says he has a three-year plan, or his leakers say he has a three-year plan, isn’t that convenient that the third year, when the really hard decisions will have to be made, occurs after he leaves the White House.”

The first phase includes air strikes that are already under way in Iraq.

“The airstrikes have been insignificant. They have accomplished a very limited mission and it gives the impression we have done a lot more than we have. We’ve done precious little on the ground and every day that goes by, every moment the President hesitates, gives ISIS the chance to consolidate and making it much harder to dislodge and destroy them.”

The second phase involves training, advising, and equipping the Iraqi Army, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and Sunni tribesman willing to fight against ISIS. The second phase will begin after Iraq completes the formation of a new government, which is currently happening.

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The third phase will require airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, which will require permission from the government of Bashar Assad in Damascus.

“It’s like the famous quotation of the French officer who sees his troops running to battle, he says ‘there go my people, I must follow them.’ That’s what Obama is doing. But it’s not because his heart is in it. This is not what he wants to do.”